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Bury 3 Swansea 2

Report written By Clive Gareth & David

Bury made all the early running with the Swans showing lack of cohesion and unable to get any play together. Bury being first to most balls with the Swans chasing shadows. In saying this there was no real threat on goal until the 10th min when Bury attacked down their right and with Phillips heading clear to the edge of the box Clegg sent a volley past Rog and into the top corner. As against Rushden, the defence was static and did not attack the ball.

There then was a period of sustained Bury pressure with late blocks and frantic clearances keeping us in the game. Every loose ball was picked up by Bury, and things looked ominous with the Swans fans getting frustrated and starting to vent their anger at a lack lustre performance. Sharp replaced O’leary and to their credit the Swans weathered the storm and started to claw their way back into the game. Jenkins laid on a perfect pass inside the area for the incoming Murphy who showed lack of composure and blasted over.

So from what would have been 1-1 we found ourselves further behind when Newby slotted past Rog after again bad defending, which started with David Smith allowing their right winger time to cross and half clearances not being effective. Before the second goal Roger showed signs of a right leg injury which by half time saw him hobble off. In fact when Phillips went down injured and the ball played out, Bury sportingly played the ball back towards Roger, who had to limp across the goal to stop goal number 3. Two further half chances for the Swans a shot by Murphy which was deflected for a corner and a shot by Phillips that went wide.

The second half started with Williams replacing Phillips and surprisingly Roger appearing for the half in apparent distress, which seemed to get worse as the half progressed. Much to everyone’s surprise Nick Cusack used his last substitution by replacing David Smith with Mumford, although it did seem that Smith was injured, while Roger hobbled on. Newby was causing all sorts of pressure as the defence struggled against a very nippy attack. It came as a surprise as the Swans were given a lifeline as Thomas was brought down running away from goal in the area and a penalty given. Thomas with no hope on goal played for the penalty and the defender bought it.

A badly taken penalty saw the ball head in the direction the gaolie had already dived to, but luckily the rebound fell to Thomas who placed it into an empty net. Bury again pressurised but we equalised with a slightly comical goal as a long throw from Williams into the area was met by Swailes who sent a superb header passed his own goalie Garner. 2-2 from a game we had hardly been in. Our good luck didn’t last long as after 2 mins the same player scored Bury’s third, latching onto a bouncing ball in the six-yard area and bundling the ball into the net.

A brilliant save from Rog kept it at 3-2 and with the fans urging the team on, Watkin was sent off, apparently for something he said to the ref, following a disallowed goal for the Swans when Williams put the ball into the net but was disallowed for high feet when it seemed more that the defender lowered his head. The game then petered out with no further action.

We have now played three games scoring 6 and conceding 7. We cannot expect to score 2 goals every game as both today’s come more from luck than good play, but what is more worrying is the ease that teams can score against us, with the defence being split time and time again. If we are to continue playing with a sweeper the defence must not defend so deep, as this allows no room for Evans to operate effectively putting him out of the game.

At the start of the season Nick Cusack and Alan Curtis promised us a team that would be fitter and show battling performances. Today Bury were a yard fitter and faster in thought as again we waited for things to happen before reacting. We must attack the ball while defending and play the percentage game while in attack, and not wait to see where the ball drops.

Even allowing for the sapping conditions we feel that some players must have a serious look at their performance, as many tackles were not made and supporting play ignored.

Only one defeat, but only 2 points from 9. Not good reading, but there is 7 days back on the training ground before our next game. One further point on the game, we received 4 bookings and a sending off. That’s 2 sending offs in 3 games.

O’Leary last Saturday for a studs showing lunge and Watkin for saying something to the ref. Both these are unprofessional and showing total lack of discipline, the ref today was poor but do we have to make it easy for them to show the red card.

4 hours to do the 120 miles there but thankfully only 2 hours to get back

Report written By Peter & Bethan Charles

Nick Cusack can't be faulted for the work he has done in the close season and for the way he is leading the hoped-for renaissance. But he does have to ask himself some searching questions today, among them:
Why play the diminutive Terry Evans out of position in an ineffective sweeper role?
Why play Kris O'Leary at all?
Why persist with an injured goalkeeper?
All part of the learning process for Nick, and we remain behind him all the way. Let's hope we'll see the benefits of it soon.

The Swans lined up in the 3 - 5 - 2 formation which Nick and Alan clearly favour. O'Leary, Evans and J Smith made up the back three with D Smith (left) and Jenkins in the wing back roles. The midfield comprised Murphy, Phillips and Reid, whilst Watkin partnered Thomas up front. Freestone, of course, was in goal.

On a furiously warm day, the new look Swans looked half asleep in the early stages, as a thoroughly enervated home team out-fought them, outran them and outplayed them, showing admirable energy in the sapping heat. But our situation wasn't helped by the defensive disarray - the three at the back dropped deep from the first minute, whilst David Smith on the left side struggled to prevent a flow of crosses from that side. the result was last ditch defending from the outset, and so it was no surprise when we fell behind on 10 minutes - a swirling shot from Clegg beating Roger after we had failed to clear a low cross.

A minute later another low strike from the home team would have doubled the lead had it not been for a great block from Jason Smith, a player who seemed to be doing the work of the entire back five. The first half continued in this vein, and realistically we could have been 2 or 3 down before the half hour mark. Our only response was a snap shot from the energetic Thomas, which the keeper smothered, and a couple of efforts from Matt Murphy, one of which sailed over the bar when he really should have done better.

The second goal immediately followed the substitution of Kris O'Leary by Neil Sharp (presumably for an injury). With D Smith caught upfield, no-one came across to cover the left side, and a low cross evaded the defence before being struck home comfortably by Newby - a routine finish against a defence which was looking all at sea.

Williams came on at half time for Phillips, thus giving us an extra forward, and an adventurous 3-4-3 formation; and indeed, this led to a more motivated Swans side, with a definite increase in effort and energy. Even so, it was Bury that nearly extended their lead when J Smith cleared a shot off the line, after Roger had been left stranded. A couple of minutes later, though ,the Swans signalled their renewed intent with a terrific burst down the left from Thomas, whose curling cross the met the head of Watkin, only for the ball to fly just wide - our first really good effort of the game.

A couple of minutes later another intelligent run from Thomas saw him work a good position in the box, but he fluffed his attempted shot. He was not long denied though, as on 62 minutes he showed a tremendous burst of acceleration to outpace a defender, latch on to a long ball and proceed into the box, only to be upended by the defender's desperate lunge. He took the penalty himself, saw it parried by the keeper, but coolly converted the rebound.

Strangely, more Bury pressure followed, and our edge of the box defending saw the home side create more chances, as we failed to deal with their pacy running down the flanks. Our situation was not helped by the obvious injury to Freestone, who was now labouring to venture even a few yards from his line. The introduction for Mumford for D Smith saw us get more of a grip in midfield, although it guaranteed that the injured Freestone would now have to see out the game.

It was a decent reintroduction for Mumford, who soon fashioned himself a chance, striking a 25 yarder over the bar - more to come from him this season we hope. When our equaliser came, it was from an unexpected source - a long throw from Williams was headed into his own net by defender Danny Swailes, sending us into raptures, but seemingly not bothering the subdued home supporters. With the momentum now with us, we could have gone on to steal the points, but the frailties of our defence suggested that we could always let another one in. And sure enough, a couple of minutes later we faiied to deal with a swinging cross, and as the ball came back across our goal, Swailes popped up in our box to volley home from close range and assure himself of a good night's sleep. Do we really have to be that generous?!

We battled gamely in the latter stages, but the sending off of Watkin for abusive language virtually ruled out any hope of another come-back. He was hard done-by in terms of the decision, but we can't afford to have disciplinaries like this - we picked up three yellow cards and a red today....come on, get a grip.

Our final moment of hope came whem Williams had the ball in the net, only to see the goal disallowed for dangerous play (high foot) - a somewhat ludicrous decision from a tragically poor referee. But the result was probably what we deserved. We gave ourselves far too much to do as a result of our sluggish start and lamentable defending.

Plater ratings:
Freestone - 5 Immobile,but not his fault. He was carrying a knock for much of the game
D Smith - 4 Positional sense poor and added little in attack.
Jenkins - 7 Noticeably stronger than his counterpart on the left, and supported the attack well
O'Leary - 5 Made one good tackle, but he does not have the stature or mobility to play this role (nor the leadership skills to be captain)
Evans - 5 All at sea...but the guy is a full back not a sweeper!
J Smith - 7 Just about held things together at the back
Murphy - 6 A couple of decent moments, but more influence required
Phillips - 6 Plenty of aggression but not well directed
Reid - 5 Tidy but not influential
Thomas - 8 Some great play from this man - could be a real star for us
Watkin - 7 A decent game,but will regret his lack of discipline
Sharp - 6 More effective than O'Leary
Williams - 5 Caused them a few problems, but didn't get a clean strike on goal
Mumford - 7 A bit wayward, but really forced the pace in the latter stages.

Conclusions? The three a the back system will only survive if we can field three reliable and robust centre halves to fill those slots - Smith is one; Sharp and Theobold may be the others. O'Leary and Evans are not. It also needs two effective full backs who can give the side some width - Jenkins did this on a couple of occasions, but we are not convinced by D Smith. This system also leaves us one light in midfield, and this showed today - we didn't get any real grip there until Mumford came on. So the team needs some width, some guile and some central defensive soliditiy. But its early days yet...we need to judge this side over the first 10 games, not the first three. There is some real promise there, particularly through James Thomas, and we have yet to see contributions from the l

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